European Commission publishes second batch of harmonized standards under MDR

The European Commission on Tuesday officially recognized nine harmonized standards for medical devices that device makers can reference in order to satisfy conformity requirements under the Medical Devices Regulation (MDR).
 
The standards cover topics including the biological evaluation of medical devices, sterilization, aseptic processing, quality management systems, the use of symbols in product information, and more.
 
The nine newly recognized harmonized standards follow an earlier set of five standards that the commission recognized in July 2021, bringing the total number of harmonized standards to 14. The recognition of the standards follows the Commission’s request to the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (Cenelec) to revise and draft standards in support of the new regulations. (RELATED: MDR/IVDR: Commission adopts new standardization request, Regulatory Focus 16 April 2021)
 
According to the Commission, “devices that are in conformity with the relevant harmonised standards, or the relevant parts of those standards, the references of which have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, are to be presumed to be in conformity with the requirements of that Regulation covered by those standards or parts thereof.”
 

Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1182 of 16 July 2021
1.	EN ISO 10993-23:2021 Biological evaluation of medical devices – Part 23: Tests for irritation (ISO 10993-23:2021)
2.	EN ISO 11135:2014 Sterilization of health care products – Ethylene oxide – Requirements for the development, validation and routine control of a sterilization process for medical devices (ISO 11135:2014)
3.	EN ISO 11137-1:2015 Sterilization of health care products - Radiation - Part 1: Requirements for development, validation and routine control of a sterilization process for medical devices (ISO 11137-1:2006, including Amd 1:2013)
4.	EN ISO 11737-2:2020 Sterilization of health care products - Microbiological methods - Part 2: Tests of sterility performed in the definition, validation and maintenance of a sterilization process (ISO 11737-2:2019)
5.	EN ISO 25424:2019 Sterilization of health care products - Low temperature steam and formaldehyde - Requirements for development, validation and routine control of a sterilization process for medical devices (ISO 25424:2018)
Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/6 of 4 January 2022
6.	EN ISO 10993-9:2021 Biological evaluation of medical devices - Part 9: Framework for identification and quantification of potential degradation products (ISO 10993-9:2019)
7.	EN ISO 10993-12:2021 Biological evaluation of medical devices - Part 12: Sample preparation and reference materials (ISO 10993-12:2021)
8.	EN ISO 11737-1:2018 Sterilization of health care products - Microbiological methods - Part 1: Determination of a population of microorganisms on products (ISO 11737-1:2018)
9.	EN ISO 13408-6:2021 Aseptic processing of health care products - Part 6: Isolator systems (ISO 13408-6:2021)
10.	EN ISO 13485:2016 Medical devices - Quality management systems - Requirements for regulatory purposes (ISO 13485:2016)
11.	EN ISO 14160:2021 Sterilization of health care products - Liquid chemical sterilizing agents for single-use medical devices utilizing animal tissues and their derivatives - Requirements for characterization, development, validation and routine control of a sterilization process for medical devices (ISO 14160:2020)
12.	EN ISO 15223-1:2021 Medical devices - Symbols to be used with information to be supplied by the manufacturer - Part 1: General requirements (ISO 15223-1:2021)
13.	EN ISO 17664-1:2021 Processing of health care products - Information to be provided by the medical device manufacturer for the processing of medical devices - Part 1: Critical and semi-critical medical devices (ISO 17664-1:2021)
14.	EN IEC 60601-2-83:2020 Medical electrical equipment - Part 2-83: Particular requirements for the basic safety and essential performance of home light therapy equipment